Completing the Dream
by InoSakuShine
Summary: Itachi's dead, Sasuke's back, but he's still lost. Unable to live a regular life, Kakashi reminds him he still has something to live for. Whatever happened to restoring the Uchiha Clan? As far as Konoha's concerned, he has two options. [SasuIno][SasuSaku]
1. At One Time, It Did

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! Sometimes I wish I did...**

**Authors Note:**

This is slightly more SasukexIno than Sakura. I thought it was about time that blond got some attention! What about her love for Sasuke? With that...hope you enjoy!

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**Completing the Dream**

**Chapter 1: Make a Move **

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" The raven haired teen winced as he heard that screeching voice erupt from his right.

"Sasuke! Hey, Sasuke!" Another voice boomed from the left, just as annoying. Both voice were familliar, but not welcome. He thought that after having leaving at least he would never have to hear one of those voices again. Apparently, he wasn't that lucky.

_I was never that lucky,_ Sasuke thought as he was sandwiched in between two hugs. He stood still and waited for them to let go.

"Sakura!" shouted the blond.

"Ino!" accused the pinkette.

"Get off of him!"

"What do you think you're doing?" At last the girl released their pinching grip to bash heads.

"You are always butting _in_," Sakura shouted. "Pig!" Ino sneered.

"Oh really? Butting in on _what_? Bilboard brow!" Neither of them noticed that Sasuke silently slipped away, to continue his errand. He left the squabbling girls behind, hands shoved in his pockets. It was all annoying, he thought. He thought Sakura was more mature about her feelings now that she was older, and he thought Ino might have moved on. But, once the two caught sight of eachother in his presence, the switched into some kind of fan-girl mode. Behind his back, they appeared to be generally good friends.

Soon the Uchiha hit a stand full of produce, and stalls full of different foods. It was a little grating how crowded it was. Well, not exactly crowded, but a few too many people for Sasuke Uchiha's liking. He decided this when he bumped into a tall figure carrying a bag of bread.

"Oh, Sasuke," a familliar, friendly voice greeted.

"Kakashi," Sasuke said, a little surprised. It was always a little awkward bumping into your sensei outside of training. It just proved they were human. Over him the man holding the bags smiled.

"I saw Sakura and Ino looking for you just before I came. Did you talk to them yet," Kakashi said, smiling beneath his mask.

"Funny," Sasuke commented, averting his eyes. He was eager to get on with what he had to do.

"Hey, I want to talk to you for a minute." Kakashi studied the teens reaction when his eyes flickered up shiftily. "Don't worry," the jounin chuckled. "It's nothing serious. Well, it is, just not _that_ kind of serious." Sasuke had the right to be wary, since returning to Konoha, what with all the prosecutions. Not to mention the tons and tons of community service pressed on his shoulders, but he supposed he was lucky for the soft comprimise.

"Fine," Sasuke said, looking around. "Where?" Kakashi pointed a lone finger at the food stand.

"How about we discuss this over food, or something?" Sasuke's expression was adverse. "I want you to be comfortable." Ten minutes later Sasuke found himself with his hands folded in front of him, sitting next to his Jonin sensei in the hot, steamy place. A bowl of appetizing-looking rice and crab clow was placed in front of him. Kakashi sie glanced at him.

"So what is it?" The dark haired boy asked impatiently. There were better things he could be doing. Or was there?

"Well, I mean this is nothing so important, but I just thought I would open your eyes a little. You've become a little unfocused lately."

"What? What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi tone became more serious.

"Itachi's dead. You hunted and killed him, and your friends brought you back to Konoha. But you've still been distant and a loner, no?" Sasuke didn't reply. "One would have thought the death of your borther and vengence of your clan would have lightened you up. Yet, you still act the same. You can't adjust back into regular living." Nothing could have annoyed the Uchiha more than Kakashi and his observations at the moment.

Kakashi waited patiently for Sasuke to reply, but the truth was, he had nothing to say. Realizing this, Sasuke replied, "Hn." So Kakashi continued, but this time in a much lighter tone. He imagined how the boy must feel, in fact he could tell him how he felt right now. Still purposless, and confused. So he had killed Itachi. He _still_ had no family. Nothing was gong to change that, or the lonliness he felt inside. If he thought killing Itachi would ease that feeling, it wouldn't. What purpose did he have to drive at now, to distract himself from that fact. Kakashi had an answer.

He _still_ had no family.

He had to _make one_, Kakashi thought.

"As I recall, you dreams haven't been completed yet?" Sasuke shot him an apprehensive look. "Wasn't part of your ambitions to _restore_ the Uchiha Clan?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied. He hadn't given that much thought lately.

"Well, your in your prime, eh? I thought I would just remind you. I think it's time you started to get going on that."

"What?" The Uchiha said, a little indignantly.

"I thougt you forgot," Kakashi said defensivly, holding up his hands. "I mean, with all those girls tailing you, you still haven't given anyone of them much attention. Not even Sakura, really."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kakashi sighed.

"Because everyone is talking. Your not really healthy, Sasuke. Socially. Haven't you wondered why Sakura and Ino have been going at it so much lately? Sakura, a mature medic nin, reduced to childish_ fawning_." The man was examining the back of his hand. "Rumor has it that it's been long enough since you returned, and everyone is waiting for you to make a move. They're waiting for you to pick."

"Waiting for me... to pick..."

"Of course there's an infinite amount of options, but there's two that really stand out in the eye of the crowd."

"..."

"Sakura and Ino, of course." He didn't want to hear anymore. He didn't _want _to listen. Kakashi was just bringing up a whole whirlpool of neglected problems and hidden emotion Sasuke refused to deal with. The teen slid out of his seat.

"Just informing you, Sasuke. It's been fun."

"Yeah," The Uchiha said sharply, preparing to pay his bill.

"No, I got it. It's the least I can do, making you listen to that."

"_Thanks_," he snapped.

"_But Sasuke,_" The Jonin said seriously, causng Sasuke to freeze in his tracks. "I know it may not seem important to you, but at one time it did. Think about it."

He didn't have to tell him. How could he possibly ignore the information Kakashi re-awakened in his head. What's worse, it was as if everyone knew it _but_ him. If the decision was left to himself, he probably would have mulled it over with Sakura bobbling in his mind. But the fact that the community was _expecting, giving_ him two choices furiated him. This was _his_ life, _his _future. _They_ didn't understand _him. _Given the severe annoyance the Uchiha contained in the heat of the moment, he thought he would reject both just to spite the village.


	2. Things Are Still Unfolding

Don't even ask me what made me decide to revive this old fic. But hey, I did.

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**Chapter Two: Things Are Still Unfolding**

Just what he wanted. More like the least place he would like to be in the world. He rather drive a kunai through his Sharigan than enter Ino's Flower shop. Out of all the community services that were slapped on his shoulders, this was the very worst. The majority of his community service was all D-ranked missions, hardly fit for a ninja of his skill. He once asked Kakashi to argue his case, but the former-sensei was mistrustful. After a few months, Kakashi trusted Sasuke enough to ask the Village's Council for a change. He asked that instead of lowly D-ranked missions, Sasuke could be given higher ranked missions in which he would complete for free.

The Council denied his request for two reasons. One, they partly wanted to see him suffer. Two, higher ranked missions often required traveling outside of the village, which he was not allowed to do, let alone even approach it's borders. They at first considered letting him help out in the Villages police force, because cutting off the Uchiha's ninja career was a bad waste of talent. In the back of their minds, the Council knew they would recruit him back to the battlefield when his talent was needed.

And now, Sasuke Uchiha found himself hired out as the assisant to the manager of the Yamanaka Flower Shop. As he opened the door a jingling bell announced his arrival. A blond woman caught sight of him, and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, so you're the assisant they sent?" She asked softly, looking him over.

"Yes," he replied indifferently. A smile unfolded on the woman's face.

"Great!" she said heartily, "I'm happy they brought a nice strong man! There are tons of heavy boxes in the back that need lifting!" Sasuke nodded. "Hold on, I'll be right back. And no need for introductions, right? I'm Mrs. Yamanaka, and I know you're Sasuke of course. Ino used to talk about you back when you were at the Academy. Anyway, I'll be right back."

Sasuke flinched inwardly after the woman left. The second to last person he felt like seeing. Ino's mother. How she must _adore_ him. He finally realized the very last person he felt like seeing was sitting at the front counter, watching him with her head propped up on her hands. Ino, herself.

"Sasuke? _You're_ working here?" In the back of his mind he wondered whether the place was really hiring or did Ino begged her mom to put in a request in hopes the council would send him? Something told him it was unlikely, though. Sakura would have done it first.

"Yeah," he replied, but didn't come any closer to her.

"This is great! We can work together!" She squealed, causing him to shiver internally. This was the worst punishment by far. Ino's mother came back holding a long list.

"Ah, here we go. There a lot of deliveries to be made. Sasuke, I need you to deliver all the boxes in the back. Ino, you can help him."

"I don't need help," Sasuke said quickly, but the woman shook her head.

"Honey, there are a _lot_ of boxes. Go ahead." Grudingly, Sasuke followed Ino into a room. True enough, it was _packed _with boxes, all stacked on top of eachother.

"Ma! That's a _lot_ of deliveries!" Ino whined.

"Dear, what did you expect? It's getting closer to Valentine's Day, you know." Without waiting Sasuke picked up two boxes, easy, and Ino hauled one. Her mother handed her the list.

"These are the addresses in accordance to the box number. Just before you deliver them I want you to unpack them and re-arrange them." Ino groaned. "Off, you two. I won't be here when you get back, so Ino you're in charge."

A few deliveries and heavy boxes later...

"Ugh! Does my mother think I'm a slave!" Ino shouted, shifting the heavy box in her arms. "This is too much!" Sasuke wordlessly took the box from her and stacked it on top of his two. "Sasuke...you don't have to do that."

"You're going too slow. I want to get this over with so I can go home."

"Oh." The last flowers in the boxes were delivered, but there was still a few more in the backroom. They stared out towards the shop but never quite got there.

Ino yawned and strecthed her arms. "I think that's enough. Let's take a break, okay?" Before he could protest she reversed step and rested at a park bench. Sasuke looked around suspiously. It wouldn't look good sitting down on the job.

"Shouldn't we finish?" He said. The blond smiled.

"Don't you think we already did a lot? Besides, Mom put me in charge and I think we've earned a break! Jeez!" She didn't budge, and he could tell she wasn't going to. His arms were a little tired, and she beckoned him to sit. He sat down, as far from her as possible. For a while they sat in silence, until it was un-thankfully broken by Ino.

"Sasuke? Can I say something... " she asked in a small voice, which also bothered him. If he said no, chances were she'd tell him anyway. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear it.

"Hn," he grunted indifferently, staring at the blank space in front of him. The girl brought her leg up and turned towards him.

"I don't know anything about you." No, _really_? "I don't know the first thing about you, or what you went through, or anything. And that's why I'm not like Sakura. You think I'm annoying, but I act the way I do because I don't know you." Sasuke closed his eyes.

"You couldn't possibly begin to understand anything about me," he said coldly.

"Please, try me. I can't stop annoying you if you don't tell me."

_You're annoying me now._

"How could you possibly know what it's like to have everything that ever mattered ripped away from you in one day and have the two most important people in your life slaughtered before your very eyes?" He said for what seemed like the tenth time in his life. If Naruto and Sakura couldn't figure it out, what made her think she ever could? He paused for the answer.

"I can't," Ino replied after a while. "There's no way I could ever imagine what that felt like, and I'm not going to even try. It would be an insult." The Uchiha opened his eyes and fought the urge to look at her. Her words were unexpected and he was a little surprised. What he did expect was a shower of weak condolences: _You poor thing, Oh my god that's terrible, it must have been horrible._ And that was the difference between Sakura and Ino, he saw. Ino didn't try to pretend to understand things that were beyond her compacity. In his eyes, it made her just a smite less annoying. A _smite_.

"The farthest I could ever relate to that, is..." She said, drawing her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. "Well, when I was little, it was my dad. He's a great father and ninja now, but believe it or not he used to be a drunk. He'd come it late at night, his breath reeked of sake. He would come in and... beat my mother. And in the morning, he'd be fine. He couldn't shake off these late night habits no matter what, so my mom took me and left.

That night, I felt like nothing mattered anymore. Something important was torn from my life, and it made everything else feel numb. Sure I was the pretty, popular girl in school, but none of it mattered. I felt like I couldn't rely on anybody, a feeling that never quite left. And, I felt like nobody needed me. I was purposeless. Then, Sakura came," she smiled. "She was more helpless than I was. And my dad came back, sobered up. He still goes out with Shikamaru's dad but he never gets over the limit. Everything was patched up, and it's all fine now. I guess that's the other huge difference."

Sasuke sat mute. What was he supposed to say? She just spilled out her life story and he had nothing to contribute. Still, he would have never guessed the blond went through that kind of ordeal. Her story was nothing compared to his, but he actually found one part he related to. She mentioned the numbness, the feeling that canceled out all others. He remembered it, too. Nothing else mattered anymore, except the one goal he engraved into his soul. Kill Itachi. Not that Itachi was dead the numbness mixed with new emerging emotions that made everything confusing and overwhelming.

"Hey," he said. Ino perked up.

"Yeah?"

"It's getting late. Won't your mom be mad?" She jumped up in shock.

"You're right!" She cursed, then said, "She's gonna kill me! I didn't notice how late it was getting, come on, let's get out of here!"

* * *

"-And so he worked with me for the day," Ino said smugly, and put down her cup. The fragrant scent of flowers did nothing to cover up her spiteful aura. Behind the elegant glass table they sat at Ino's mother could be heard greeting customers inside. In the back garden, it was peaceful and serene. The two girls sipped drinks under the shade of the umbrella that stuck out of the table's center.

"Nice," said Sakura, pretending she could care less. "Is that why you invited me? To tell me this."

"Actually, my mom invited you since you stopped in," Ino smiled.

"I had to pick up some flowers for my mom," Sakura explained. "But really, what do you want with Sasuke? I thought you were 'so over him'."

"I'm not," Ino said.

"What about Shikamaru?" Sakura demanded. Ino chuckled.

"No, no, no. Shika? Besides, somehow I think he likes that girl from the Sand Village." Sakura crinkled her noise, remembering that harsh girl with the fan.

"Ah. Well, I've been Sasuke's teammate forever now. I understand him more than you do. If it's just me and you, do you think you have a chance? Where were you while I was taking care of him all these years before he left?" Ino set her cup down a little forcefully.

"That's nothing," she snapped. "Everyone takes care of their_ teammates._ That's the only reason you got close to him! Excuse me, but I was busy taking care of my own teammates and being the _leader_ of my squad, I could only wish for extra time to take care of him, too. Did you ever get to know him outside of missions and training? No, if I were on your team I'd be in your position right now!" Her spiteful outburst silenced the other girl.

_Was that really true?_ Sakura thought. _Would I even be close to Sasuke if we weren't on the same team?_ Ino smirked in triumph.

"Everything happens for a reason," Sakura said definetly, making up her mind. "If I was on his team, it's because it was meant to be. Just like Team Ino-Shika-Cho was meant to be. Ino pursed her lips and averted her gaze.

_It's not too late to find out what else was meant to be... Things are still unfolding, I'm sure of it._


End file.
